PCC's 75th Anniversary History Book

133 Pages·2010·12.36 MB·English

by  Mark Morrall Dodge

PASADENA CITY COLLEGE

A History Commissioned on the Occasion of the Seventy­fifth Anniversary
PASADENA CITY COLL EG E

A History Commissioned on the Occasion of the Seventy­fifth Anniversary
Mark Morrall Dodge

PASADENA CITY COLLEGE • PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
Copyright © 2002 by the Pasadena City College Foundation
This publication is protected by the Berne Convention and is fully protected by
all applicable rights. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including fax, photocopy, recording, or any information storage or
retrieval system by anyone except the purchaser for his or her own use.
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ISBN 0­9726684­0­3

PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
CONTENTS

Foreword......................................................................... 5

1570 East Colorado Blvd. Preface............................................................................. 7

Pasadena, California 91106
Phone (626) 585­7123
Genesis: The 1920s............................................ 9

The Depression Years...................................... 29

THE PCC HISTORY PROJECT
Project Coordinator and Author: Mark Morrall Dodge World War II ................................................... 49

Sports History Contributor: Robert Lewis
Pasadena History Contributor: Elizabeth Pomeroy
The Post­War Boom ....................................... 63

Art Director: Christina Rose
Photo Editor: Oscar Chavez
Web Site Editor: Robert Bowman The Turbulent Years........................................ 85

Contributors: Kay Dabelow, Elton Davis, Susie Ling
Towards the New Millennium ..................... 103

PCC ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
A Note on Sources ..................................................... 128

Project Coordinator: Mark Morrall Dodge
Project Historian: Mark Dollinger
Index ........................................................................... 129

Resource Coordinator: Jackie Dodds
Interviewers: Monique Barron, Pauline Crabb, Elton & Lisa Davis,
Mark Morrall Dodge, Bill Goldmann, Harry Kawahara, Tony
Haynes, Christina Rose
F became president in 1965. In addition to securing funding for the
OREWORD

college’s science and nursing building, he oversaw the introduction of
instructional television, the creation of the Community Adult Training
Center, and the establishment of the college’s first EOP&S program to
W
hat a privilege it was to be president of Pasadena City provide academic assistance to minority students.
College as it celebrated its seventy­fifth year of service E. Howard Floyd became the college’s sixth president, 1976­1978,
to the community! PCC is one of the most respected after having been a member of the college’s math department since
community colleges in the nation, and it has acquired a unique place of 1930, and the college’s vice president for a number of years. During
affection in our community, especially among the some one million Floyd’s tenure, PCC initiated a unique pre­flight training program for
individuals who have taken classes at PCC. Those alumni are the Navy. Beginning in 1978, Richard Meyers, the next president,
genuinely proud of Pasadena City College. presided over five of the college’s most difficult years. Proposition 13
PCC could not have become an outstanding institution without had passed two years earlier, and state funding for education
some extraordinary leadership over those seventy­five years. It all plummeted. In order to balance the college budget, instructional
began with William Ewing, who first proposed the plan that led to the programs had to be cut, and many faculty and staff positions were
creation of Pasadena Junior College in 1924. Ewing, who served as the eliminated. John Casey was named president in 1983, and he inherited
first president (principal) of the college, was succeeded by John a dispirited staff still reeling from the prior years’ financial crises.
Harbeson. Harbeson was the longest­serving president, guiding the Casey concentrated on rebuilding morale and refocusing the campus
college through the Depression, the 1933 earthquake, and World War on its primary mission of educating students. Jack Scott came to PCC
II. Many people in our community remember firsthand the “tent city” as its ninth president in 1987. Aware that the college facilities had been
after the earthquake and the return of the GIs to PCC after the war. It neglected for years, Scott initiated a building master plan designed to
was also during Harbeson’s tenure that the college band became the refurbish the campus over a ten­year period. As the college entered its
official band of the Tournament of Roses Parade. In addition to seventy­fifth year, the last phases of the $100 million plan were being
reconstructing the quake­damaged buildings, Harbeson directed the completed.
building of the college’s Observatory, which was dedicated by Albert No question, PCC has been blessed with nine extraordinary
Einstein. presidents. They have been instrumental in the growth of the college
In 1950, William Langsdorf became the first PCC alumnus to from master building plans to instructional excellence. That excellence,
serve as college president. He had taught in the Social Sciences I believe, comes from an outstanding faculty. There is no single
Department and was the college vice president for eleven years before decision that can so impact the quality of the institution as the decision
assuming the presidency. During Langsdorf’s nine years at the helm, to recommend an individual to become a member of the faculty. As I
the Technology Building was constructed, PJC and Muir College were reflect on my good fortune to have been the president of Pasadena City
joined, and the college teams became known as the Lancers. Catherine College at the time of its diamond anniversary celebration, I can’t help
Robbins, a member of the faculty since 1923, became the college’s thinking about, and thanking, those nine “giants” on whose shoulders
fourth president in 1959. At the time, she was one of a handful of the present­day reputation of PCC is standing.
women community college presidents in the nation. During her six
years as president, the college began construction of the five­story Dr. James Kossler
instructional building that now bears her name. Armen Sarafian Superintendent­President, Pasadena City College
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Horace Mann Building
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P
REFACE

Pasadena City College, founded in 1924 as Pasadena Junior ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

College, was one of the earliest junior colleges in the Southwest
United States. Its faculty, graduates, and former students, now Thank you...
numbering in the hundreds of thousands, have contributed greatly Irene Aguilera Jim Kingman
to business, education, industry, the professions, and most other Gretchen Anderson Leonard Knapp
Suzanne Anderson Mary Ann Laun
aspects of American society. The talented efforts of its presidents,
Alan Armstrong David Leary
trustees, faculty, and staff have made PCC an extraordinary
Louise Bell Karen Luchsinger
institution.
Fran Boaman Marjorie L. Marks
This book commemorates the history of Pasadena City College Joe Conner Bruce Mayhill
on the occasion of the seventy­fifth anniversary of its founding.This Richard D. Burns Pete Mhunzi
is not a chronicle of the people, events, or statistics, but a record of Chuck Champlin Dick Moreno
what is interesting and important in the college’s development. Each Laura Davis Woody Olsen
Bruce Fink Manny Perez
chapter reveals the major events, concentrating on the most
Mike Finkenbinder Edith Pulley
significant elements of college life in each particular era.
Ed Glasscock Tanya Rizzo
My own association with PCC has spanned thirty years as both
Grover Goyne Barbara Salmon
student and faculty member. The sporting record has been covered Bill Goldmann Sue Talbot
by PCC’s preeminent sports writer Robert Lewis. The prominent Bill Grainger Edna Trillo­McDonnell
Southern California historian Elizabeth Pomeroy has portrayed the Douglas Haines Nino Valmassoi
social, economic, political, and cultural matters that influenced the Meta Holcomb Mark Wallace
Don Holthaus Bev White
development of the College. Other important contributions were
Richard Jones Cindy Young
made by Kay Dabelow, Elton Davis, and Susie Ling.
Sam Kazarian
It’s inevitable that too many people and events have been
omitted from this work, but what remains should stir fond
memories of an important time in the lives of those associated with Special thanks go to Mary Ann Laun and the helpful staff of
PCC—their time at one of the world’s great community colleges. the Walter Shatford II Library, Pasadena City College; John U.
Zweers, John Muir College; Virginia Renner, Huntington Library,
Art Collections and Botanical Gardens; The Staff of the Washington
Mark Morrall Dodge Research Center, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution;
Pasadena, California Dr. James Kossler, President, the Trustees of the Pasadena Area
Community College District, and Grover Goyne of the Pasadena
City College Foundation.
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Aerial view of the Pasadena High School campus taken in the late 1920s, looking southwest
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GENESIS: THE 1920S structures: the Horace Mann, Jane Addams, and Louis Agassiz
buildings, all of which served the college until the mid­1930s.
The new school, which cost $632,000, opened in 1913 with an
enrollment of 1,700 students. Some local residents felt the new
In the first decades of the 20th century, Pasadena was a lively campus should have been christened “Benjamin D. Wilson High
city of comfortable wealth. To frost­bitten Easterners, Pasadena School” in honor of Pasadena High School’s original land donor, but
was a winter vacation land of orange groves, poppy fields, clean it was officially dedicated as Pasadena High School (PHS). The class
air and sunshine. This image, coupled with the lure of the West and period changed from forty­five minutes to a full hour. Pasadena
the easy California lifestyle, attracted people of creativity and High School took a serious step toward fostering sanitary school
wealth from all over the United States. Every winter, millionaires conditions in 1916: the despised roller fabric towels were exchanged
flocked to their palatial South Orange Grove homes, while middle­ for paper ones. The year 1917 marked the construction of new
class vacationers filled the city’s resort hotels. African Americans, grandstands. Placing locker rooms beneath the modern cement
Asians, and Latinos, in commerce and in service, rounded out the bleachers was then a new idea.
community’s diverse mixture. No matter why they came, many America’s brief involvement in World War I (1917­1918)
decided to make Pasadena their full­time home. touched the school members. In response, they dedicated a service
The city also benefitted from the nation’s growing interest in flag with fifty­eight stars on it to commemorate fifty­eight students
scientific and technological development. Throop University, a local who left to serve their country. More serious was the Spanish Flu
school of arts and crafts founded in 1891 by Amos G. Throop, was pandemic that swept the country in the winter of 1918­1919. Classes
renamed Throop Polytechnic Institute to reflect its emerging on campus were suspended for four months and teachers regularly
scientific interests. Ultimately, in 1920, it became the now­ visited students’ homes to make assignments and monitor their
renowned California Institute of Technology. Wealth and academic progress. Two Pasadena schools were converted into flu hospitals,
interest demanded a first class public education system, and and part of the high school was taken over by the federal
Pasadena citizens would accept nothing less! Into this environment government as a center to coordinate anti­flu activities.
was born the predecessor to PCC, Pasadena Junior College.
1925 High School ROTC practice on the front lawn
PASADENA HIGH SCHOOL
Pasadena City College can trace its roots to 1911 when eighteen
acres were acquired for the construction of a new campus for
Pasadena High School. An additional nineteen acres were purchased
in 1923, expanding the campus to 37.39 acres. The property was
bounded on the north by Colorado Boulevard, the east by Sierra
Bonita Avenue, the south by Blanche Street (later Del Mar) and
the west by Hill Avenue.
The new educational facility began to take shape in 1912 with
a newly completed campus displacing a citrus orchard and the old
Grant School originally built there. The campus centered on three
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Pasadena Museum of History collection
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